370.96 

B629a 


T  HE  AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  A  LIBERAL 
EDUCATION  FOR  AFRICANS 

m  tiBfiaar 

§FTlf£ 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  BY 

EDWARD  WILMOT  BLYDEN,  LL.  D„ 

•  «* 

PRESIDENT  OF  LIBERIA  COLLEGE 


January  5, 1881 


O- 


( Original  Imprint ) 

CAMBRIDGE,  U.  S.  A. 
JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON 
Ihthtrnuttj  1.1  it  iiii 

1882.* 


REPUBLISHED  BY 

GEORGE  YOUNG 
New  York 
1920 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/aimsmethodsoflib00blyd_0 


EDWARD  WILMOT  BLYDEN,  LL.  D. 


THE  AIMS  AND  METHODS  OF  A  LIBERAL 
EDUCATION  FOR  AFRICANS 


-O- 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BY 


EDWARD  WILMOT  BLYDEN,  LL.  D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  LIBERIA  COLLEGE 


January  5, 1881 


( Original  Imprint) 

CAMBRIDGE,  U.  S.  A. 

JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON 


HtttwrBttg  prrsa 

1882. 


# 


REPUBLISHED  BY 

GEORGE  YOUNG, 
New  York 
1920 


iC.  F.  Milliken  &  Co.t  Printers ,  Canandaigua ,  N.  Y. 


% 


31o3k 


* ‘ ISLAM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  NEGRO  RACE.” 

The  reproduction  of  the  volume  which  bears  the  above  title 

Islam,  Christianity  and  the  Negro  Race,”  by  Mr.  George 
Young,  will  fill  a  literary  vacuum  created  in  the  world  of 
letters  by  the  absence  of  this  work  from  the  counters  of  the 
book  depositories  of  the  country. 

The  effort  will  undoubtedly  attract  the  helpful  attention 
of  the  race  in  this  country,  and  especially  in  Africa,  where 
the  author,  Edward  Wilmot  Blyden,  was  better  known, 
because  of  the  unselfish  service  he  rendered  to  Africa  and 
the  Africans  during  his  life  time,  the  major  part  of  which 
was  spent  on  the  Continent,  the  ancestral  home  of  the  black 
man. 

If  Mr.  Young  succeeds  in  restoring  the  book  to  active 
service  among  mankind  he  will  be  entitled  to  his  share  of 
praise  in  the  memory  of  the  race,  and  his  name  will  of 
necessity  be  linked  with  the  name  of  its  distinguished  author. 
Since  the  demise  of  Dr.  Blyden  there  has  come  a  craving  for 
his  literary  productions  from  both  races;  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  “Islam,  Christianity  and  the  Negro  Race,” 
the  creme  a  la  creme  of  his  literary  effort,  should  not  now  be 
obtainable  because  the  edition  has  run  out. 

No  man  seemed  better  qualified  either  to  write  or  to  speak, 
during  his  life  time,  on  the  subject  discussed  in  the  book  than 
the  author,  who  was  a  recognized  master  of  the  tongues  of  the 
Arabic,  the  Hebrew,  the  Latin  and  the  Greek;  and  without 
mention  of  his  knowledge  of  a  number  of  modern  languages, 
he  had  ability  also  to  converse  fluently  in  a  score  of  African 
dialects,  which  gave  him  access  into  the  inner  consciousness 
of  the  ancient  race,  in  whose  land  science,  art  and  philosophy 
had  its  origin.  Mr.  Blyden  was  not  only  a  scholar  of  rare 
qualifications,  but  he  was  a  profound  thinker  and  a  man  of 
wide  vision.  As  a  speaker  and  orator  he  was  attractive 
and  convincing  and  shone  brilliantly  as  a  conversationalist  in 


4 


many  of  the  most  distinguished  circles  in  the  centers  of 
European  civilization,  notably  London,  Paris,  Berlin,  Brussels, 
Constantinople  and  Rome. 

He  rendered  also  distinguished  service  in  the  field  of 
diplomacy.  For  a  number  of  years  he  represented  the 
Republic  of  Liberia  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  and  again,  in 
his  old  age,  he  was  sent  as  a  special  Ambassador  to  Paris, 
the  French  Capital,  on  an  errand  which  involved  delicate 
diplomatic  treatment.  In  all  these  posts  of  distinction  he 
acquitted  himself  with  credit  and  honor  to  the  government 
and  people  whose  representative  he  was. 

His  public  career  was  also  marked  by  many  noted  acts  of 
recognition  from  foreign  rulers  and  wealthy  patrons.  For  a 
number  of  years  he  was  Director  of  Mohammedan  Education 
in  the  British  Colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  and  was  in  his  latter 
days  not  only  pensioned  by  that  Government  but  was  among 
the  special  few  Who  received  the  Decoration  at  the  Coronation 
of  King  Edward  VII. 

Upon  his  visit  to  Cairo  he  was  decorated  by  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey  in  recognition  of  unselfish  service  and  devotion  to 
Africa  and  the  Africans.  He  was  a  personal  friend  of  Sir 
Alfred  Jone,  the  head  of  the  great  Elder,  Dempster  Steamship 
line  and  was  personna  grata  on  all  the  vessels  of  the  fleet. 
France  decorated  him,  and  his  own  Government  honored  him 
with  many  distinctions,  notably  membership  in  the  highest 
and  most  exclusive  circle  in  the  humane  order  of  Knights 
of  African  Redemption. 

It  would  therefore  seem  in  the  light  of  this  brief  resume  of 
t'he  acts  of  Mr.  Blyden  that  any  production  from  his  pen  and 
brain  would  receive  hearty  welcome  in  literary  circles  and 
should  find  a  place  in  the  library  of  every  man  who  has  a 
taste  for  literature  and  a  desire  to  know  the  truth  from  first 
hand. 

ERNEIST  LYON,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Author  of  ‘‘The  Negro  View  of  Organic  Union,’ ’ 
Methodist  minister,  Liberia  Consul  General,  U.  S.  Ex-Minister 
to  Liberia. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees: 

Your  generous  action  —  endorsed  by  the  equally  generous 
action  of  the  Trustees  of  Donations  in  Boston  —  in  electing  me 
to  the  Presidency  of  Liberia  College,  gives  me  the  opportunity 
of  appearing  before  you  and  this  large  and  respected  audience, 
on  this  important  occasion,  to  discuss  what  I  conceive  to  be 
the  work  which  lies  before  this  institution,  and  to  indicate 
the  manner  in  which  it  shall  be  my  endeavor  to  discharge  the 
responsible  duties  which  the  situation  imposes. 

A  college  in  West  Africa,  for  the  education  of  African 
youth  by  African  instructors,  under  a  Christian  government 
conducted  by  Negroes,  is  something  so  unique  in  the  history 
of  Christian  civilization,  that  wherever,  in  the  civilized  world, 
the  intelligence  of  the  existence  of  such  an  institution  is 
carried,  there  will  be  curiosity  if  not  anxiety  as  to  its 
character,  its  work,  and  its  prospects.  A  college  suited  in 
all  respects  to  the  exigencies  of  this  nation  and  to  the  needs 
of  the  race  cannot  come  into  existence  all  at  once.  It  must  be 
the  result  of  years  of  experience,  of  trial,  of  experiment. 

Every  thinking  man  will  allow  that  all  we  have  been  doing 
in  this  country  so  far,  whether  in  church,  in  state,  or  in 
school,  (our  forms  of  religion,  our  politics,  our  literature  — 
such  as  it  is)  is  only  temporary  and  transitional.  When  we 
advance  into  Africa  truly,  and  become  one  with  the  great 
tribes  on  the  continent,  these  things  will  take  the  form  which 
the  genius  of  the  race  shall  prescribe. 

The  civilization  of  that  vast  population,  untouched  by 
foreign  influence,  not  yet  affected  by  European  habits,  is  not 
to  be  organized  according  to  foreign  patterns,  but  will 
organize  itself  according  to  the  nature  of  the  people  and  the 


6 


country.  Nothing  that  we  are  doing  now  can  be  absolute  or 
permanent,  because  nothing  is  normal  or  regular.  Every¬ 
thing  is  provisional  or  tentative. 

The  College  is  only  a  machine,  an  instrument  to  assist  in 
carrying  forward  our  regular  work,  —  devised  not  only  for 
intellectual  ends  but  for  social  purposes,  for  religious  duty,, 
for  patriotic  aims,  for  racial  development;  and  when  as  an 
instrument,  as  a  means,  it  fails,  for  any  reason  whatever,  to 
fulfil  its  legitimate  functions,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  country,  as 
well  as  the  interest  of  the  country,  to  see  that  it  is  stimulated 
into  healthful  activity,  or,  if  this  is  impossible,  to  see  that  it 
is  set  aside  as  a  pernicious  obstruction.  We  cannot  afford 
to  waste  time  in  dealing  with  insoluble  problems  under 
impossible  conditions.  When  the  College  was  first  founded, 
according  to  the  generous  conception  of  our  friends  abroad, 
they  probably  supposed  that  they  were  founding  an  institution 
to  be  at  once  complete  in  its  appointments,  and  to  go  on 
working  regularly  and  effectively  as  colleges  in  countries 
where  people  have  come  to  understand,  from  years  of 
experience  and  trial,  their  intellectual,  social,  and  political 
needs,  and  the  methods  for  supplying  those  needs;  and  in 
their  efforts  to  assist  us  to  become  sharers  in  the  advantages 
of  their  civilization,  they  have  aimed  to  establish  institutions 
a  priori  for  our  development.  That  is,  they  have,  by  a  course 
of  reasoning  natural  to  them,  concluded  that  certain  methods 
and  agencies  which  have  been  successful  among  themselves 
must  be  successful  among  Africans.  They  have  on  general 
considerations  come  to  certain  conclusions  (as  to  what 
ought  to  apply  to  us.  They  have  not,  perhaps,  sufficiently 
borne  in  mind  that  a  college  in  a  new  country 
and  among  an  inexperienced  people,  must  be,  at 
least  in  the  earlier  periods  of  its  existence,  different 
from  a  college  in  an  old  country  and  among  a  people 
who  understand  themselves  and  their  work;  but,  from  the 
little  experience  we  have  had  on  this  side  of  the  water  we 
have  learned  enough  to  know  that  no  a  priori  arrangements 
can  be  successfully  employed  in  the  promotion  of  our 
progress.  We  are  arriving  at  the  principles  necessary  for 


7 


our  guidance,  through  experience,  through  difficulties,  through 
failures.  The  process  is  slow  and  sometimes  discouraging, 
but  after  a  while  we  shall  reach  the  true  methods  of  growth 
for  us.  The  work  of  a  college  like  ours,  and  among  a  people 
like  our  people,  must  be  at  first  generative .  It  must  create 
a  sentiment  favorable  to  its  existence.  It  must  generate 
the  intellectual  and  moral  state  in  the  community  which  will 
give  it  not  only  a  congenial  atmosphere  in  which  to  thrive, 
but  food  and  nutriment  for  its  enlargement  and  growth ;  and 
out  of  this  will  naturally  come  the  material  conditions  of  its 
success. 

Liberia  College  has  gone  through  one  stage  of  experience. 
We  are  to-day  at  the  threshold  of  another.  It  has,  to  a  great 
extent,  created  a  public  sentiment  in  its  favor;  but  it  has  not 
yet  done  its  generative  work.  It  is  now  proposed  to  take  a 
new  departure  and,  by  a  system  of  instruction  more  suited 
to  the  necessities  of  the  country  and  the  race,  —  that  is  to 
say,  more  suited  to  the  development  of  the  individuality  and 
manhood  of  the  African,  —  to  bring  the  institution  more 
within  the  scope  of  the  co-operation  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
people.  It  is  proposed  also,  as  soon  as  we  can  command  the 
necessary  means,  to  remove  the  College  operations  to  an 
interior  site,  where  health  of  body,  the  indispensable  condition 
of  health  of  mind,  can  be  secured;  where  the  students  may 
devote  a  portion  of  their  time  to  manual  labor  in  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  the  fertile  lands  which  will  be  accessible,  and  thus 
assist  in  procuring  the  means  from  the  soil  for  meeting  a 
large  part  of  the  necessary  expenses;  and  where  access  to 
the  institution  will  be  convenient  to  the  aborigines.  The 
work  immediately  before  us,  then,  is  one  of  reconstruction, 
and  the  usual  difficulties  that  attend  reconstruction  of  any 
sort  beset  our  first  step.  The  people  generally  are  not  yet 
prepared  to  understand  their  own  interest  in  the  great  work 
to  be  done  for  themselves  and  their  children,  and  the  part 
they  should  take  in  it;  and  we  shall  be  obliged  to  work  for 
some  time  to  come,  not  only  without  the  popular  sympathy 
we  ought  to  have,  but  with  utterly  inadequate  resources. 

This  is  inevitable  in  the  present  condition  of  our  progress. 


8 


All  we  can  hope  is  that  the  work  will  go  on,  hampered  though 
it  may  be,  until,  in  spite  of  misappreciation  and  disparage¬ 
ment,  there  can  be  raised  up  a  class  of  minds  who  will  give 
a  healthy  tone  to  society,  and  exert  an  influence  widespread 
enough  to  bring  to  the  institution  that  indigenous  sympathy 
and  support  without  which  it  cannot  thrive.  It  is  our  hope 
and  expectation  that  there  will  rise  up  men,  aided  by 
instruction  and  culture  in  this  College,  imbued  with  public 
spirit,  who  will  know  how  to  live  and  work  and  prosper  in 
this  country,  how  to  use  all  favoring  outward  conditions,  how 
to  triumph  by  intelligence,  by  tact,  by  industry,  by 
perseverance,  over  the  indifference  of  their  own  people,  and 
how  to  overcome  the  scorn  and  opposition  of  the  enemies  of 
the  race,  —  men  who  will  be  determined  to  make  this  nation 
honorable  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

We  have  in  our  curriculum,  adopted  some  years  ago,  a 
course  of  study  corresponding  to  some  extent  to  that  pursued 
in  European  and  American  colleges.  To  this  we  shall  adhere 
as  nearly  as  possible;  but  experience  has  already  suggested, 
and  will  no  doubt  from  time  to  time  suggest,  such  modifi¬ 
cations  as  are  required  by  our  peculiar  circumstances. 

The  object  of  all  education  is  to  secure  growth  and 
efficiency,  to  make  a  man  all  that  his  natural  gifts  will  allow 
him  to  become ;  to  produce  self-respect,  a  proper  appreciation 
of  our  own  powers  and  of  the  powers  of  other  people;  to 
beget  a  fitness  for  one’s  sphere  of  life  and  action,  and  an 
ability  to  discharge  the  duties  it  imposes.  Now  if  we  take 
these  qualities  as  the  true  outcome  of  a  correct  education, 
then  every  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  facts  must  admit 
that  as  a  rule,  in  the  entire  civilized  world,  the  Negro  not¬ 
withstanding  his  two  hundred  years’  residence  with  Christian 
and  civilized  races,  has  nowhere  received  anything  like  a 
correct  education.  We  find  him  everywhere  —  in  the  United 
States,  in  the  West  Indies,  in  South  America —  largely 
unable  to  cope  with  the  responsibilities  which  devolve  upon 
him.  Not  only  is  he  not  sought  after  for  any  position  of 
influence  in  the  political  operations  of  those  countries,  but  he 


9 


is  even  denied  admission  to  ecclesiastical  appointments  of 
any  importance. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Venn,  late  Secretary  of  the  Chnrch  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society,  writing  in  1867  to  the  Bishop  of  Kingston, 
Jamaica,  of  the  Negro  of  that  island,  says:  — 

“There  can  (be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  watched 
the  progress  of  modern  missions  that  a  chief  cause  of  the  failure  of 
the  Jamaica  Mission  has  been  the  deficiency  of  Negro  teachers  for 
the  Negro  race.”  1 

With  regard  to  the  same  island  Bishop  Courtenay,  in  an 
address  before  the  American  Episcopal  Convention  in  1874, 
said  :  — 

“We  have  not  as  yet  in  Jamaica  one  priest  of  purely  African  race. 
At  the  present  Imoment  no  Negro  in  holy  orders  could  command  that 
respect  in  Jamaica  which  a  white  man  could  command.”  2 

Bishop  Mitchinson,  of  Barbadoes,  at  the  Pan  Anglican 
Council  in  London,  in  1878,  said  with  regard  to  his  diocese:  — 

“Experience  in  my  diocese  has  taught  me  to  be  mistrustful  of 
intellectual  gifts  in  the  colored  race,  for  they  do  not  seem  generally 
to  connote  sterling  work  and  fitness  for  the  (Christian  ministry.  .  . 

I  do  not  think  the  time  has  come,  or  is  even  near,  when  the  ranks 
of  the  clergy  will  be  largely  recruited  in  the  West  Indies  by  the 
Negro  race.”  3 

But  this  testimony  is  borne  not  only  by  white  people,  who' 
might  be  supposed  to  be  influenced  by  prejudice;  it  is  the 
experience  also  of  all  thinking  Negroes  who  set  themselves 
earnestly  to  consider  the  work  and  disqualifications  of  the 
Negro  in  civilized  lands.  All  along  this  coast,  in  the  civilized 
settlements,  there  is  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  results  so  far 
of  the  training  of  native  Africans  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  even  with  their  training  on  the  coast  under  European 
teachers. 

The  West  African  Reporter ,  of  Sierra  Leone,  complains  as 
follows :  — 

1  Memoirs  of  Rev.  Henry  Venn,  B.  D.,  p.  215. 

2  The  Church  Journal,  New  York,  October  29,  1874. 

3  The  Guardian,  July  3,  1878. 


10 


“We  find  our  children,  as  a  result  of  their  foreign  culture  (we  do 
not  say  in  spite  of  their  foreign  culture,  but  as  a  result  of  their 
foreign  culture),  aimless  and  purposeless  for  the  race,  —  crammed 
with  European  formulas  of  thought  and  expression  so  as  to  astonish 
their  bewildered  relatives.  Their  friends  wonder  at  the  words  of 
their  mouth;  but  they  wonder  at  other  things  besides  their  words. 
They  are  the  Polyphemus  of  civilization,  huge,  but  sightless,  —  cui 
lumen  ademptum.” 

This  paragraph  has  been  quoted  in  several  American 
periodicals.  The  American  Missionary ,  the  organ  of  the 
American  Missionary  Association,  in  commenting,  adds :  “To 
some  extent  the  same  holds  true  of  Negroes  from  the  South, 
educated  in  the  North  for  work  in  their  old  homes.”  The 
Foreign  Missionary,  organ  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  referring  to  the  same  paragraph,  says : 

“We  would  further  add  that  iNegroes  educated  anywhere  out  of 
Africa  labor  under  certain  disadvantages  in  becoming  missionaries 
to  the  heathen  of  their  own  race.  As  foreigners,  with  foreign  habits, 
they  fail  to  exert  the  influence  wielded  by  Anglo-Saxons.  We  can¬ 
not  hand  over  the  evangelization  of  Africa  to  the  colored  race, 
except  so  last  and  so  far  as  they  can  be  trained,  like  Bishop 
cCrowther’s  men,  on  the  soil.” 

To  a  certain  extent,  perhaps  to  a  very  important  extent, 
Negroes  trained  on  the  soil  of  Africa  have  the  advantage  of 
those  trained  in  foreign  countries;  but  in  all,  as  a  rule,  the 
intellectual  and  moral  results  thus  far  have  been  far  from 
satisfactory.  There  are  many  men  of  book-learning,  but 
few,  very  few,  of  any  capability ,  —  even  few  who  have  that 
amount  or  that  sort  of  culture  which  produces  self-respect, 
confidence  in  one’s  self,  and  efficiency  in  work.  Now  why 
is  this?  The  evil,  it  is  considered,  lies  in  the  system  and 
method  of  European  training,  to  which  Negroes  are  every¬ 
where  in  Christian  lands  subjected,  and  which  everywhere 
affects  them  unfavorably.  Of  a  different  race,  different 
susceptibility,  different  bent  of  character  from  that  of  the 
European,  they  have  been  trained  under  influences  in  many 
respects  adapted  only  to  the  Caucasian  race.  Nearly  all  the 


11 


books  they  read,  the  very  instruments  of  their  culture,  have 
been  such  as  to  force  them  from  the  groove  which  is  natural 
to  them,  where  they  would  be  strong  and  effective,  without 
furnishing  them  with  any  avenue  through  which  they  may 
move  naturally  and  free  from  obstruction.  Christian  and 
so-called  civilized  Negroes  live  for  the  most  part  in  foreign 
countries,  where  they  are  only  passive  spectators  of  the  deeds 
of  a  foreign  race;  and  where,  with  other  impressions  which 
they  receive  from  without,  an  element  of  doubt  as  to  their 
own  capacity  and  their  own  destiny  is  fastened  upon  them 
and  inheres  in  their  intellectual  and  social  constitution. 
They  depreciate  their  own  individuality,  and  would  escape 
from  it  if  they  could.  And  in  countries  like  this,  where 
they  are  free  from  the  hampering  surroundings  of  an  alien 
race,  they  still  read  and  study  the  books  of  foreigners,  and 
form  their  idea  of  everything  that  man  may  do,  or  ought  to 
do,  according  to  the  standard  held  up  in  those  teachings. 
Hence  without  the  physical  or  mental  aptitude  for  the  enter¬ 
prises  which  they  are  taught  to  admire  and  revere,  they 
attemjpt  to  copy  and  imitate  them,  and  share  the  fate  of  all 
copyists  and  imitators.  Bound  to  move  on  a  lower  level, 
they  acquire  and  retain  a  practical  inferiority,  transcribing 
very  often  the  faults  rather  than  the  virtues  of  their  models. 

Besides  this  result  of  involuntary  impressions,  they  often 
receive  direct  teachings  which  are  not  only  incompatible  with 
but  destructive  of  their  self-respect. 

In  all  English-speaking  countries  the  mind  of  the  intelli¬ 
gent  Negro  child  revolts  against  the  descriptions  given  in 
elementary  books  —  geographies,  travels,  histories  —  of  the 
Negro;  but,  though  he  experiences  an  instinctive  revulsion 
from  these  caricatures  and  misrepresentations,  he  is  obliged 
to  continue,  as  he  grows  in  years,  to  study  such  pernicious 
teachings.  After  leaving  school  he  finds  the  same  things 
in  newspapers,  in  reviews,  in  novels,  in  quasi  scientific  works ; 
and  after  a  while  —  saepe  cadendo  —  they  begin  to  seem  to 
him  the  proper  things  to  say  and  to  feel  about  his  race,  and  he 
accepts  What  at  first  his  fresh  and  unbiased  feelings 


12 


naturally  and  indignantly  repelled.  Such  is  the  effect  of 
repetition. 

Having  embraced  or  at  least  assented  to  these  errors  and 
falsehoods  about  himself,  he  concludes  that  his  only  hope 
of  rising  in  the  scale  of  respectable  manhood  is  to  strive 
after  whatever  is  most  unlike  himself  and  most  alien  to  his 
peculiar  tastes.  And  whatever  his  literary  attainments  or 
acquired  ability,  he  fancies  that  he  must  grind  at  the  mill 
which  is  provided  for  him,  putting  in  the  material  furnished 
to  his  hands,  bringing  no  contribution  from  his  own  field; 
and  of  course  nothing  comes  out  but  what  is  put  in.  Thus 
he  can  never  bring  any  real  assistance  to  the  European.  He 
can  never  attain  to  that  essence  jof  progress  which  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer  describes  as  difference  :  and  therefore,  he 
never  acquires  the  self-respect  or  self-reliance  of  an 
independent  contributor.  He  is  not  an  independent  help, 
only  a  subject  help;  so  that  the  European  feels  that  he  owes 
him  no  debt,  and  moves  on  in  contemptuous  indifference  of 
the  Negro,  teaching  him  to  contemn  himself. 

Those  who  have  lived  in  civilized  communities,  where  there 
are  different  races,  know  the  disparaging  views  which  are 
entertained  of  the  blacks  by  their  neighbors  (and  often,  alas!) 
by  themselves.  The  standard  of  all  physical  and  intellectual 
excellencies  in  the  present  civilization  being  the  white 
complexion,  whatever  deviates  from  that  favored  color  is 
proportionally  depreciated,  until  the  black,  which  is  the 
opposite,  becomes  not  only  the  most  unpopular  but  the  most 
unprofitable  color.  Black  men,  and  especially  black  women, 
in  such  communities  experience  the  greatest  imaginable 
inconvenience.  They  never  feel  at  home.  In  the  depth  of 
their  being  they  always  feel  themselves  strangers  in  the  land 
of  their  exile,  and  the  only  escape  from  this  feeling  is  to 
escape  from  themselves.  And  this  feeling  of  self-depreciation 
is  not  diminished,  as  I  have  intimated  above,  by  the  books 
they  read.  Women,  especially,  are  fond  of  reading  novels 
and  light  literature ;  and  it  is  in  these  writings  that  flippant 
and  eulogistic  reference  is  constantly  made  to  the  superior 
physical  and  mental  characteristics  of  the  Caucasian  race, 


13 


which  by  contrast  suggests  the  inferiority  of  other  races,  — 
especially  of  that  race  which  is  furthest  removed  from  it  in 
appearance. 

It  is  painful  in  America  to  see  the  efforts  which  are  made 
by  Negroes  to  secure  outward  conformity  to  the  appearance 
of  the  dominant  race. 

This  is  by  no  means  surprising;  but  what  is  surprising  is 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  any  Negro  has  retained  a 
particle  of  self-respect.  Now  in  Africa,  where  the  color 
of  the  majority  is  black,  the  fashion  in  personal  matters  is 
naturally  suggested  by  the  personal  characteristics  of  the 
race,  and  we  are  free  from  the  necessity  of  submitting  to 
the  use  of  “ incongruous  feathers  awkwardly  stuck  on.” 
Still,  we  are  held  in  bondage  by  our  indiscriminate  and 
injudicious  use  of  a  foreign  literature ;  and  we  strive  to 
advance  by  the  methods  of  a  foreign  race.  In  this  effort 
we  struggle  with  the  odds  against  us.  We  fight  at  the 
disadvantage  which  David  would  have  experienced  in  Saul’s 
armor.  The  African  must  advance  by  methods  of  his  own. 
He  must  possess  a  power  distinct  from  that  of  the  European. 
It  has  been  proven  that  he  knows  how  to  take  advantage  of 
European  culture,  and  that  he  can  be  benefited  by  it.  This 
proof  was  perhaps  necessary,  but  it  is  not  sufficient.  We 
must  show  that  we  are  able  to  go  alone,  to  carve  out  our  own 
way.  We  must  not  be  satisfied  that  in  this  nation  European 
influence  shapes  our  polity,  makes  our  laws,  rules  in  our 
tribunals,  and  impregnates  our  social  atmosphere.  We  must 
not  suppose  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  methods  are  final,  that  there 
is  nothing  for  us  to  find  out  for  our  own  guidance,  and  that 
we  have  nothing  to  teach  the  world.  There  is  inspiration  for 
us  also.  We  must  study  our  brethren  in  the  interior,  who 
know  better  than  we  do  the  laws  of  growth  for  the  race.  We 
see  among  them  the  rudiments  of  that  which,  with  fair  play 
and  opportunity,  will  develop  into  important  and  effective 
agencies  for  our  work.  We  look  too  much  to  foreigners,  and 
are  dazzled  almost  to  blindness  by  their  exploits,  —  so  as 
to  fancy  that  they  have  exhausted  the  possibilities  of 
humanity.  In  our  estimation  they,  like  Longfellow’s  Iagoo, 


14 


have  done  and  can  do  everything  better  than  anybody  else : — 
“Never  heard  he  an  adventure 
But  himself  ihad  made  a  greater; 

Never  any  deed  of  daring, 

But  himself  had  done  a  bolder; 

Never  any  marvelous  story 
But  himself  could  tell  a  stranger. 

No  one  ever  shot  an  arrow 
Half  so  far  and  high  as  he  had, 

Ever  caught  so  many  fishes, 

Ever  killed  so  many  reindeer, 

Ever  trapped  so  many  beaver. 

None  could  run  so  fast  as  he  could; 

None  could  dive  so  deep  as  he  could; 

None  could  swim  so  far  as  he  could; 

None  ihad  made  so  many  journeys; 

None  had  seen  so  many  wonders, 

As  this  wonderful  Iagoo.” 

But  there  are  possibilities  before  us  not  yet  dreamed  of  by 
the  Iagoos  of  civilization.  Dr.  Alexander  Winchell,  professor 
in  one  of  the  American  universities,  —  who  has  lately  written 
a  book,  in  the  name  of  science,  in  which  he  reproduces  all 
the  old  slanders  against  the  Negro,  and  writes  of  the  African 
at  home  as  if  Livingstone,  Barth,  Stanley,  and  Cameron  had 
never  written,  —  mentions  it,  as  one  of  the  evidences  of 
Negro  inferiority,  that  “in  Liberia  he  is  indifferent  to  the 
benefits  of  civilization.”  1  I  stand  here  to-day  to  justify  and 
commend  the  Negro  of  Liberia  —  and  of  everywhere  else  in 
Africa  —  for  rejecting  with  scorn,  “always  and  every  time,” 
the  “benefits”  of  a  civilization  whose  theories  are  to  degrade 
him  in  the  scale  of  humanity,  and  of  which  such  sciolists 
as  Dr.  Winchell  are  the  exponents  and  representative 
elements.  We  recommend  all  Africans  to  treat  such 
“benefits”  with  even  more  decided  “indifference”  than  that 
with  which  the  guide  in  Dante  treated  the  despicable  herd,  — 
“Non  ragionam  di  lor,  ma  guarda,  e  passa.” 

Those  of  us  who  have  traveled  in  foreign  countries  and  who 

1  Pre-Adamite  Man,  p.  265. 


15 


witness  the  general  results  of  European  influence  along  this 
coast,  have  many  reasons  for  misgivings  and  reserves  and 
anxieties  about  European  civilization  for  this  country.  Things 
which  have  been  of  great  advantage  to  Europe  may  work  ruin 
to  us ;  and  there  is  often  such  a  striking  resemblance,  or  such 
a  close  connection  between  the  nocuous  and  the  beneficial,  that 
we  are  not  always  able  to  discriminate.  I  have  heard  of  a 
native  in  one  of  the  settlements  on  the  coast  who,  having 
grown  up  in  the  use  of  the  simple  but  efficient  remedies  of  the 
country  doctors,  and  having  prospered  in  business,  conceived 
the  idea  that  he  must  avail  himself  of  the  medicines  he  saw 
used  by  the  European  traders.  Suffering  from  sleeplessness 
he  was  advised  to  take  Dover’s  powders,  but  in  his  in¬ 
experience  took  instead  an  overdose  of  morphine,  and  next 
morning  he  was  a  corpse.  So  we  have  reason  to  apprehend 
that  in  our  indiscriminate  appropriations  of  European 
agencies  or  methods  in  our  political,  educational,  and  social 
life,  we  are  often  imbibing  overdoses  of  morphine  when  we 
fancy  we  are  only  taking  Dover’s  powders. 

And  it  is  for  this  reason,  while  we  are  anxious  for  immigra¬ 
tion  from  America  and  desirous  that  the  immigrants  shall 
push  as  fast  as  possible  into  the  interior,  that  we  look  with 
anxiety  and  concern  at  the  difficulties  and  troubles  which 
must  arise  from  their  misconception  of  the  work  to  be  done 
in  this  country.  I  apprehend  that  in  their  progress  interior- 
wards  there  will  be  friction,  irritations,  and  conflicts ;  and  our 
brethren  in  certain  portions  of  the  United  States  are  at  this 
moment  witnessing  a  state  of  things  among  their  superiors 
which  they  will  naturally  want  to  reproduce  in  this  country, 
and  which,  if  reproduced  here,  will  utterly  extinguish  the 
flickering  light  of  the  Lone  Star,  and  close  forever  this  open 
door  of  Christian  civilization  into  Africa. 

Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  reminds  us  1  that  when  some  one 
talked  to  Themistocles  of  an  art  of  memory  he  answered, 
“Teach  me  rather  to  forget.”  The  full  meaning  of  this 
aspiration  must  be  realized  in  the  life  of  the  Christian  Negro 
before  he  can  become  a  full  man,  or  successful  worker  in  his 
fatherland. 

1  Preface  to  Johnson’s  Lives  of  the  Poets. 


16 


In  the  prosecution  of  the  work  of  a  college  in  America  for 
the  education  of  Negro  youth,  it  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that 
the  aim  should  be,  to  a  great  extent,  to  assist  their  power  of 
forgetfulness,  —  an  achievement  of  extreme  difficulty,  I 
imagine,  in  that  country  where,  from  the  very  action  of  the 
surrounding  atmosphere,  “the  interstices  with  which  Nature 
has  provided  the  human  memory,  through  which  many 
things  once  known  pass  into  oblivion,  are  kept  constantly 
closed.’  ’ 

In  the  prosecution  of  the  work  of  a  college  for  the  training 
of  youth  in  this  country,  the  aim,  it  occurs  to  me,  should  be 
to  study  the  causes  of  Negro  inefficiency  in  civilized  lands; 
and,  so  far  as  it  has  resulted  from  the  training  they  have 
received,  to  endeavor  to  avoid  what  we  conceive  to  be  the 
sinister  elements  in  that  training. 

In  the  curriculum  of  Liberia  College,  therefore,  it  shall  be 
our  aim  to  increase  the  amount  of  purely  disciplinary 
agencies,  and  to  reduce  to  its  minimum  the  amount  of  those 
distracting  influences  to  which  I  have  referred  as  hindering 
the  proper  growth  of  the  race. 

The  true  principle  of  mental  culture  is  perhaps  this :  to 
preserve  an  accurate  balance  between  the  studies  which  carry 
the  mind  out  of  itself,  and  those  which  recall  it  home  again. 
When  we  receive  impressions  from  without  we  must  bring 
from  our  own  consciousness  the  idea  that  gives  them  shape ; 
we  must  mould  them  by  our  own  individuality.  Now  in 
looking  over  the  whole  civilized  world  I  see  no  place  where 
this  sort  of  culture  for  the  Negro  can  be  better  secured  than 
in  Liberia,  —  where  he  may,  with  less  interruption  from 
surrounding  influences,  find  out  his  place  and  his  work, 
develop  his  peculiar  gifts  and  powers ;  and  for  the  training  of 
Negro  youth  upon  the  basis  of  their  own  idiosyncrasy,  with  a 
sense  of  race,  individuality,  self-respect,  and  liberty,  there  is 
no  institution  so  well  adapted  as  Liberia  College  with  its 
Negro  faculty  and  Negro  students. 

We  are  often  told  of  the  advantages  which  students  of  the 
African  race  are  enjoying  in  the  institutions  established  for 
their  training  in  America;  but  listen  to  the  testimony  of  Dr. 


17 


Winchell  with  regard  to  the  position  of  the  students  in  one 
of  the  best  of  them,  namely,  Fisk  University,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
He  says:  — 

“I  have  sometimes,  when  visiting  Fisk  University  at  Nashville, 
looked  with  admiration  at  some  magnificently  formed  heads  which 
are  there  working,  under  all  the  discouragements  of  social  repression, 
for  knowledge,  culture,  and  high  respectability.  My  sympathies 
have  been  deeply  moved  at  the  evidences  of  their  earnestness  and 
conscious  strength,  coupled  with  a  keen  and  crushing  perception  of 
the  weight  of  the  social  ban  which  their  race  brings  upon  them.  I 
will  not  refrain  from  expressing  here  the  hope  that  such  cases  may 
receive  every  encouragement  and  mark  of  appreciation.”  1 

This  testimony,  coming  from  one  who  is  ostentatiously  anti- 
Negro,  is  peculiarly  striking;  but  one  is  amused  at  the 
naivete  exhibited  in  the  expression  of  the  “hope”  recorded 
in  the  last  sentence  by  a  man  who  has  assailed  the  Negro 
with  every  weapon  of  antipathy  which  could  be  drawn  from 
his  imagination,  and  is  doing  all  in  his  power  to  swell  the 
Negrophobic  literature  and  to  intensify  a  public  sentiment 
sufficiently  hostile  to  that  class  of  people. 

It  has  always  been  to  me,  let  me  say  in  passing,  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  there  should  be  found  white  men  who  —  in 
spite  of  this  anti-Negro  literature,  with  the  Notts  and 
Gliddons  and  Winchells  and  Bakers  to  instruct  them,  with 
the  prophets  of  ill  on  every  hand  —  are  still  willing  and 
ready  to  give  their  means  and  their  time  and  their  labor  for 
the  promotion  of  the  intellectual  training  of  such  a  race.  It 
is  astonishing,  not  that  so  little  money  is  spent  on  African 
education,  but  that  any  at  all  is  spent  by  men  who  from  their 
childhood  have  been  imbibing  from  the  books  they  read,  and 
from  their  surroundings,  sentiments  of  disparagement  and 
distrust  of  the  possibilities  of  the  African  race. 

We  may  conclude,  then,  that  there  is  no  field  so  well 
adapted  for  the  work  of  Negro  training  as  Liberia;  and  it 
must  be  our  aim  to  bring  Liberia  College  up  to  the  work  to  be 
done  in  this  peculiar  and  interesting  field.  Now  what  is  the 
1  Pre-Adamite  Man,  p.  182,  note. 


18 


course  to  be  adopted  in  the  education  of  youth  in  this  College  ? 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  careful  consideration  to  this  im¬ 
portant  subject;  and  I  propose  now  to  sketch  the  outlines  of 
a  programme  for  the  education  of  the  students  in  Liberia 
College,  and,  I  may  venture  to  add,  of  Negro  youth  every¬ 
where  in  Africa  who  are  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  work 
of  the  race  and  of  the  country.  I  will  premise  that  generally 
in  the  teaching  of  our  youth  far  more  is  made  of  the  importance 
of  imparting  information  than  of  training  the  mind.  Their 
minds  are  too  much  taken  possession  of  by  mere  information 
drawn  from  European  sources. 

Lord  Bacon  says  that  “ reading  makes  a  full  man;”  but 
the  indiscriminate  reading  by  the  Negro  of  European  litera¬ 
ture  has  made  him,  in  many  instances,  too  full,  or  has  rather 
destroyed  his  balance.  “The  value  of  a  cargo,”  says  Huxley, 
“does  not  compensate  for  a  ship  being  out  of  trim;”  and  the 
amount  of  knowledge  that  a  man  has  does  not  secure  his  use¬ 
fulness  if  he  has  so  taken  it  in  that  he  is  lop-sided. 

We  shall  devote  attention  principally,  both  for  mental 
discipline  and  information,  to  the  earlier  epochs  of  the 
world’s  history.  It  is  decided  that  there  are  five  or  six 
leading  epochs  in  the  history  of  civilization.  I  am  following 
Mr.  Frederic  Harrison’s  classification.  First,  there  was  the 
great  permanent,  stationary  system  of  human  society,  held 
together  by  a  religious  belief,  or  by  social  custom  growing  out 
of  that  belief.  This  has  been  called  the  theocratic  state  of 
society.  The  type  of  that  phase  of  civilization  was  the  old 
Eastern  empires.  The  second  great  type  was  the  Greek  age 
of  intellectual  activity  and  civic  freedom.  Next  came  the 
Roman  type  of  civilization,  and  age  of  empire,  of  conquest, 
of  consolidation  of  nations,  of  law  and  government.  The 
fourth  great  system  was  the  phase  of  civilization  which 
prevailed  from  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  until 
comparatively  modern  times,  and  was  called  the  Mediaeval 
Age,  when  the  Church  and  feudalism  existed  side  by  side. 
The  fifth  phase  of  history  was  that  which  began  with  the 
breaking  up  of  the  power  of  the  Church  on  the  one  side,  and 
of  feudalism  on  the  other,  —  the  foundation  of  modern 


19 


history  or  the  modern  age.  That  system  has  continued  down 
to  the  present;  but  if  subdivided,  it  would  form  the  sixth 
type,  which  is  the  age  since  the  French  Revolution,  —  the 
age  of  social  and  popular  development,  modern  science  and 
industry. 

We  shall  permit  in  our  curriculum  the  unrestricted  study  of 
the  first  four  epochs,  but  especially  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth,  from  which  the  present  civilization  of  Western 
Europe  is  mainly  derived.  There  has  been  no  period  of 
history  more  full  of  suggestive  energy,  both  physical  and 
intellectual,  than  those  epochs.  Modern  Europe  boasts  of  its 
period  of  intellectual  activity,  but  none  can  equal,  for  life 
and  freshness,  the  Greek  and  Roman  prime.  No  modern 
writers  will  ever  influence  the  destiny  of  the  race  to  the  same 
extent  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  have  done. 

We  can  afford  to  exclude  then  as  subjects  of  study,  at 
least  in  the  earlier  college  years,  the  events  of  the  fifth  and 
sixth  epochs,  and  the  works  which  in  large  numbers  have 
been  written  during  those  epochs.  I  know  that  during  these 
periods  some  of  the  greatest  works  of  human  genius  have 
been  composed.  I  know  that  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  Gibbon 
and  Macaulay,  Hallam  and  Lecky,  Froude,  Stubbs  and  Green, 
belong  to  these  periods.  It  is  not  in  my  power,  even  if  I  had 
the  will,  to  disparage  the  works  of  these  masters;  but  what 
I  wish  to  say  is  that  these  are  not  the  works  on  which  the 
mind  of  the  youthful  African  should  be  trained.  It  was 
during  the  sixth  period  that  the  transatlantic  slave  trade 
arose,  and  those  theories — theological,  social,  and  political 
—  were  invented  for  the  degradation  and  proscription  of  the 
Negro.  This  epoch  continues  to  this  day,  and  has  an 
abundant  literature  and  a  prolific  authorship.  It  has 
produced  that  whole  tribe  of  declamatory  Negrophobists, 
whose  views,  in  spite  of  their  emptiness  and  impertinence, 
are  having  their  effect  upon  the  ephemeral  literature  of  the 
day,  —  a  literature  which  is  shaping  the  life  of  the  Negro 
in  Christian  lands.  His  whole  theory  of  life,  quite  contrary 
to  what  his  nature  intends,  is  being  influenced,  consciously 
and  unconsciously,  by  the  general  conceptions  of  his  race 


20 


entertained  by  the  manufacturers  of  this  literature,  —  a  great 
portion  of  which,  made  for  to-day,  will  not  survive  the  next 
generation. 

I  admit  that  in  this  period  there  have  been  able  defences  of 
the  race  written,  but  they  have  all  been  in  the  patronizing  or 
apologetic  tone,  —  in  the  spirit  of  that  good-natured  man  who 
assured  the  world  that  — 

“Fleecy  locks  and  dark  complexion 
'Cannot  forfeit  nature’s  claim.” 

Poor  Phillis  WTieatly,  a  native  African  educated  in  America, 
in  her  attempts  at  poetry  is  made  to  say,  in  what  her  biogra¬ 
pher  calls  “spirited  lines,”  — 

“Remember,  Christian,  Negroes,  black  as  Cain,  May  be  refined,  and 
join  the  angelic  train.” 

The  arguments  of  Wilberforce,  the  eloquence  of  Wendell 
Phillips,  the  pathos  of  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin ,  are  all  in  the  same 
strain,  —  that  Negroes  have  souls  to  save  just  as  white  men 
have,  and  that  the  strength  of  nature’s  claim  is  not  impaired 
by  their  complexion  and  hair.  We  surely  cannot  indulge, 
with  the  same  feelings  of  exultation  that  the  Englishman  or 
American  experiences,  in  the  proud  boast  that  — 

“We  speak  the  language  Shakespeare  spoke, 

The  faith  and  morals  hold  which  Milton  held;” 

for  that  “language,”  in  some  of  its  finest  utterances,  patron¬ 
izes  and  apologizes  for  us,  and  that  “faith”  has  been  hitherto 
powerless  to  save  us  from  proscription  and  insult. 

It  is  true  that  culture  is  one,  and  the  general  effects  of  true 
culture  are  the  same;  but  the  native  capacities  of  mankind 
differ,  and  their  work  and  destiny  differ,  so  that  the  road  by 
which  one  man  may  attain  to  the  highest  efficiency,  is  not  that 
which  would  conduce  to  the  success  of  another.  The  special 
road  which  has  led  to  the  success  and  elevation  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  is  not  that  which  would  lead  to  the  success  and  eleva¬ 
tion  of  the  Negro,  though  we  shall  resort  to  the  same  means 
of  general  culture  which  has  enabled  the  Anglo-Saxon  to  find 
out  for  himself  the  way  in  which  he  ought  to  go. 


21 


The  instruments  of  culture  which  we  shall  employ  in  the 
College  will  he  chiefly  the  Classics  and  Mathematics.  By 
Classics  I  mean  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  and  their 
literature.  In  those  languages  there  is  not,  as  far  as  I  know, 
a  sentence,  a  word,  or  a  syllable  disparaging  to  the  Negro. 
He  may  get  nourishment  from  them  without  taking  in  any 
race  poison.  They  will  perform  no  sinister  work  upon  his 
consciousness,  and  give  no  unholy  bias  to  his  inclinations.  1 

The  present  civilization  of  Europe  is  greatly  indebted  to  the 
influence  of  the  rich  inheritance  left  by  the  civilizations  of 
Greece  and  Rome.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  what  would  be 
the  condition  of  Europe  but  for  the  influence  of  the  so-called 
dead  languages  and  the  treasures  they  contain. 

1  I  have  noticed  a  few  lines  from  Virgil,  describing  a  Negress  of 
the  lower  class,  which  are  made  to  do  duty  on  all  occasions  when 
the  modern  traducers  of  the  Negro  would  draw  countenance  for  their 
theories  from  the  classical  writers;  hut  similar  descriptions  of  the 
lower  European  races  abound  in  their  own  literature.  The  lines 
are  the  following,  used  by  Nott  and  Gliddon,  and  recently  quoted  by 
Dr.  Winchell:  — 

“Interdum  clamat  Cybalen  erat  unica  custos; 

Afra  genus,  tota  patriam  testante  figura; 

Torta  comam,  labroque  tumens,  et  fusca  colorem, 

Pectore  lata,  jacens  mammis,  compressior  alvo, 

Cruribus  exilis,  spatiosa  prodiga  planta; 

Continuis  rimis  calcanea  scissa  rigebant.” 

[Meanwhile  he  calls  Cybale.  She  was  his  only  (house)  keeper. 
African  by  race,  her  whole  figure  attesting  her  fatherland;  with 
crisped  hair,  swelling  lip,  and  dark  complexion;  broad  in  chest, 
with  pendant  dugs  and  very  contracted  abdomen;  with  spindle 
shanks  and  broad  enormous  feet;  her  lacerated  heels  were  rigid 
with  continuous  cracks.] 

But  hear  how  Homer,  Virgil’s  superior  and  model,  sings  the  praises 
of  the  Negro  Euryabates,  who  signalized  himself  at  the  siege  of 
Troy: — 

“A  reverend  herald  in  his  train  I  knew, 

Of  visage  solemn,  sad,  but  sable  hue. 

Short  woolly  curls  o’er-fleeced  his  bending  head. 

O’er  which  a  promontory  shoulder  spread. 

Euryabates,  in  whose  large  soul  alone, 

Ulysses  viewed  an  image  of  his  own  ” 


22 


“Had  the  Western  World  been  left  to  itself  in  Chinese  isolation,” 
says  Professor  Huxley,  “there  is  no  saying  how  long  that  state  of 
things  might  have  endured;  but  happily  it  was  not  left  to  itself. 
Even  earlier  than  the  13th  century  the  development  of  Moorish 
civilization  in  Spain,  and  the  movement  of  the  crusades,  had  intro¬ 
duced  the  leaven  which  from  that  day  to  this  has  never  ceased  to 
work.  At  first  through  the  intermediation  of  Arabic  translations, 
afterwards  by  the  study  of  the  originals,  the  western  nations  of 
Europe  became  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
philosophers  and  poets,  and  in  time  with  the  whole  of  the  vast 
literature  of  antiquity.  Whatever  there  was  of  high  intellectual 
aspiration  or  dominant  capacity,  in  Italy,  France,  Germany,  and 
England,  spent  itself  for  centuries  in  taking  possession  of  the  rich 
inheritance  left  by  the  dead  civilizations  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
Marvelously  aided  by  the  invention  of  printing,  classical  learning 
spread  and  flourished.  Those  who  possessed  it  prided  themselves  on 
having  attained  the  highest  culture  then  within  the  reach  of  man¬ 
kind.”  1 

Passing  over  then,  for  a  certain  time,  the  current  literature 
of  Western  Europe,  which  is,  after  all,  derived  and  secondary, 
we  will  resort  to  the  fountain  head;  and  in  the  study  of  the 
great  masters,  in  the  languages  in  which  they  wrote,  we  shall 
get  the  required  mental  discipline  without  unfavorably 
affecting  our  sense  of  race  individuality  or  our  own  self- 
respect.  There  is  nothing  that  we  need  to  know  for  the  work 
of  building  up  this  country,  in  its  moral,  political  and  religious 
character,  which  we  may  not  learn  from  the  ancient.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  domain  of  literature,  philosophy,  or  religion 
for  which  we  need  be  dependent  upon  the  moderns.  Law  and 
philosophy  we  may  get  from  the  Romans  and  the  Greeks, 
religion  from  the  Hebrews. 

Even  Europeans,  advanced  as  they  are,  are  every  day 
devoting  more  and  more  attention  to  the  Classics.  Says  a 
very  recent  writer:  — 

1  Inaugural  Address  at  the  opening  of  Mason  Science  College, 
Birmingham,  September,  1880. 


23 


“We  have  not  done  with  the  Hellenes  yet,  in  spite  of  all  the  labor 
spent  and  all  the  books  written  on  them  and  their  literature 
bequeathed  to  us.  It  has  indeed  been  said  that  we  know  nearly  as 
much  about  the  Greeks  and  Romans  as  we  shall  ever  know;  but  this 
can  only  be  true  of  the  mass  of  facts,  to  which,  without  some  new 
discoveries,  we  are  not  likely  to  add  greatly.  It  is  not  in  the  least 
true  in  regard  to  the  significance  of  Hellenic  history  and  literature. 
Beyond  and  above  the  various  interpretations  placed  by  different 
ages  upon  the  great  writers  of  Greece,  lies  the  meaning  which 
longer  experience  and  more  improved  methods  of  criticism,  and  the 
test  of  time  declare,  to  be  the  true  one.  From  this  point  of  view 
much  remains  and  will  long  remain  to  be  done,  whether  we  look 
to  the  work  of  the  scholar  or  to  the  influence  of  Hellenic  thought 
on  civilization.  We  have  not  yet  found  all  the  scattered  limbs  of 
Truth;  it  may  be  that  we  are  only  commencing  the  search.  . 

The  Gorgias  of  Plato  and  the  Ethics  of  Aristotle  are  more  valuable 
than  modern  books  on  the  same  subjects,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  they  are  nearer  the  beginning.  They  have  a  greater  freshness, 
and  appeal  more  directly  to  the  growing  mind.”  1 

If  we  turn  to  Rome  we  find  equal  instruction  in  all  the 
elements  of  a  correct  and  prosperous  nationality.  “The 
education  of  the  world  in  the  principles  of  a  sound  juris¬ 
prudence,”  says  Dean  Merivale,  “was  the  most  wonderful 
work  of  the  Roman  conquerors.  It  was  complete,  it  was 
universal ;  and  in  permanence  it  has  far  outlasted  —  at  least 
in  its  distinct  results  —  the  duration  of  the  empire  itself.” 

“As  supernatural  wisdom  came  from  God  through  the 
mouths  of  the  prophets,”  said  St.  Augustine,  “so  also 
natural  wisdom,  social  justice,  came  from  the  same  God 
through  the  mouth  of  the  Roman  legislators.”  ( Leges 
Romanorum  divinitus  per  ora  principum  emanarunt .)  2 

“Roman  civilization  produced  not  only  great  men  but  good  men,  of 
high  views  of  human  life  and  human  responsibility,  with  a  high 
standard  of  what  men  ought  to  aim  at,  with  a  high  belief  of  what 

1  Hellenica.  Edited  by  Evelyn  Abbott,  IM.  A.,  LL.  D.  London,  1880. 

2  Quoted  by  Pere  Hyacinthe  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
February,  1880. 


24 


they  ought  to  do.  And  it  not  only  produced  individuals,  it  produced  a 
strong  and  permanent  force  of  sentiment;  it  produced  a  character 
shared  very  unequally  among  the  people,  'but  powerful  enough  to 
determine  the  course  of  history.  .  .  Certainly,  in  no  people  which 

the  world  has  ever  seen  has  the  sense  of  public  duty  been  keener  or 
stronger  than  in  Rome,  or  has  lived  on  with  unimpaired  vitality 
through  great  changes  for  a  longer  time.  ...  Its  early  legends 
dwelt  upon  the  strange  and  terrible  sacrifices  which  supreme  loyalty 
to  the  commonwealth  had  exacted  and  obtained  without  a  murmur 
from  her  sons.  They  told  of  a  founder  of  Roman  freedom  dooming 
his  two  young  sons  to  the  axe  for  having  tampered  with  a  conspiracy 
against  the  state;  of  great  men  resigning  office  because  they  bore  a 
dangerous  name,  or  pulling  down  their  own  houses  because  too 
great  for  private  citizens;  of  soldiers,  to  whose  death  fate  had 
bound  victory,  solemnly  devoting  themselves  to  die,  or  leaping  into 
the  gulf  which  would  only  close  on  a  living  victim;  of  a  great  family 
purchasing  peace  in  civil  troubles  by  leaving  the  city  and  turning 
their  energy  into  a  foreign  war  in  which  they  perished;  of  the 
captive  general  who  advised  his  countrymen  to  send  him  back  to 
certain  torture  and  death,  rather  than  grant  the  terms  he  was  com¬ 
missioned  to  propose  as  the  price  of  his  release.  Whatever  we  may 
think  of  these  stories,  they  show  what  was  in  the  mind  of  those 
who  told  and  repeated  them;  and  they  continued  to  be  the  accredited 
types  and  models  of  Roman  conduct  throughout  Roman  history.”1 

It  is  our  purpose  to  cultivate  the  study  of  the  languages  of 
the  two  great  peoples  to  whom  I  have  referred  as  among  the 
most  effective  instruments  of  intellectual  discipline. 

A  great  deal  of  misapprehension  prevails  in  the  popular 
mind  as  to  the  utility  in  a  liberal  education  of  the  so-called 
dead  languages,  and  many  fancy  that  the  time  devoted  to 
their  study  is  time  lost;  but  let  it  be  understood  that  their 
study  is  not  pursued  merely  for  the  information  they  impart. 
If  information  were  all,  it  would  be  far  more  useful  to  learn 
the  French  and  German,  or  any  other  of  the  modern 

1  The  Gifts  of  Civilization.  By  Dean  Church.  New  edition. 
London,  1880. 


\ 


25 


languages,  during  the  time  devoted  to  Greek  and  Latin;  but 
what  is  gained  by  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages  is  that 
strengthening  and  disciplining  of  the  mind  which  enables  the 
student  in  after  life  to  lay  hold  of  and  with  comparatively 
little  difficulty  to  master  any  business  to  which  he  may  turn 
his  attention.  A  recent  scholarly  and  experienced  writer  says 
on  this  subject:  — 

“Even  if  it  were  conceivable  that  a  youth  should  entirely  forget 
all  the  facts,  pictures,  and  ideas  he  had  learned  from  the  Classics, 
together  with  all  the  rules  of  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  Grammar,  his 
mind  would  still,  as  an  instrument,  be  superior  to  that  of  every 
one  who  has  not  passed  through  the  same  training.  Nay,  even  the 
youth  who  was  always  last  in  his  class,  and  who  dozed  out  his  nine 
years  on  the  benches  of  a  classical  school,  only  half  attentive  to 
his  teacher  and  mot  doing  half  his  tasks,  —  even  he  will  surpass, 
in  mental  mobility,  the  most  diligent  scholar  who  has  been  taught 
only  the  modern  languages  and  a  quantity  of  special  and  disconnected 
knowledge.  One  of  the  first  bankers  in  a  foreign  capital  lately 
told  me  that  in  the  course  of  a  year  he  had  given  some  thirty  clerks, 
who  ihad  been  educated  expressly  for  commerce  in  commercial 
schools,  a  trial  in  his  offices,  and  was  not  able  to  make  use  of  a 
single  one  of  them;  while  those  who  came  from  the  German  schools 
(and  had  studied  the  classics),  although  they  knew  nothing  whatever 
of  business  matters  to  begin  with,  soon  made  themselves  perfect 
masters  of  them.”  1 

The  study  of  the  Classics  also  lays  the  foundation  for  the 
successful  pursuit  of  scientific  knowledge.  It  so  stimulates 
the  mind  that  it  arouses  the  student’s  interest  in  all  problems 
of  science.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the  scientific  study 
of  nature  followed  immediately  after  the  revival  of  classical 
learning. 

But  we  shall  also  study  Mathematics.  These  as  instruments 
of'  culture  are  everywhere  applicable.  A  course  of  algebra, 
geometry,  and  higher  mathematics  must  accompany  step  by 
step  classical  studies.  Neither  of  these  means  of  discipline 
can  be  omitted  without  loss.  The  qualities  which  make  a 

1  Karl  Hiltebrand  in  Contemporary  Review,  August,  1880. 


26 


man  succeed  in  mastering  the  Classics  and  Mathematics  are 
also  those  which  qualify  him  for  the  practical  work  of  life. 
Care,  industry,  judgment,  tact,  are  the  elements  of  success 
anywhere  and  everywhere.  The  training  and  discipline,  the 
patience  and  endurance,  to  which  each  naan  must  submit  in 
order  to  success;  the  resolution  which  relaxes  no  effort,  but 
fights  the  hardest  when  difficulties  are  to  be  surmounted,  — 
these  are  qualities  which  boys  go  to  school  to  cultivate,  and 
these  they  acquire  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  by  a  successful 
study  of  Classics  and  Mathematics.  The  boy  who  shirks  these 
studies,  or  retires  from  his  class  because  he  is  unwilling  to 
contend  with  the  difficulties  they  involve,  lacks  those  qualities 
which  make  a  successful  and  influential  character. 

It  will  be  our  aim  to  introduce  into  our  curriculum  also  the 
Arabic,  and  some  of  the  principal  native  languages,  —  by 
means  of  which  we  may  have  intelligent  intercourse  with  the 
millions  accessible  to  us  in  the  interior,  and  learn  more  of  our 
own  country.  We  have  young  men  who  are  experts  in  the 
geography  and  customs  of  foreign  countries;  who  can  tell  all 
about  the  proceedings  of  foreign  statesmen  in  countries 
thousands  of  miles  away;  can  talk  glibly  of  London,  Berlin, 
Paris,  and  Washington;  know  all  about  Gladstone,  Bismarck, 
Gambetta,  and  Hayes ;  but  who  knows  anything  about 
Musahdu,  Medina,  Kankan,  or  Sego  —  only  a  few  hundred 
miles  from  us?  Who  can  tell  anything  of  the  policy  or 
doings  of  Fanfi-doreh,  Ibrahima  Sissi,  or  Fahqueh,  or  Simoro 
of  Boporu  —  only  a  few  steps  from  us?  These  are  hardly 
known.  Now  as  Negroes,  allied  in  blood  and  race  to  these 
people,  this  is  disgraceful ;  and  as  a  nation,  if  we  intend  to 
grow  and  prosper  in  this  country,  it  is  impolitic ,  it  is  short¬ 
sighted,  it  is  unpatriotic,  but  it  has  required  time  for  us  to 
grow  up  to  these  ideas,  to  understand  our  position  in  this 
country.  In  order  to  accelerate  our  future  progress,  and  to 
give  to  the  advance  we  make  the  element  of  permanence,  it 
will  be  our  aim  in  the  College  to  produce  men  of  ability. 
Ability  or  capability  is  the  power  to  use  with  effect  the 
instruments  in  our  hands.  The  bad  workman  complains  of 
his  tools;  but  even  when  he  is  satisfied  with  the  excellence 


27 


of  his  tools,  he  cannot  produce  the  results  which  an  able 
workman  will  produce  even  with  indifferent  tools. 

If  a  man  has  the  learning  of  Solomon,  but  for  some  reason, 
either  in  himself  or  his  surroundings,  cannot  bring  his  learn¬ 
ing  into  useful  application,  that  man  is  lacking  in  ability.  Now 
what  we  desire  to  do  is  to  produce  ability  in  our  youth;  and 
whenever  we  find  a  youth,  however  brilliant  in  his  powers  of 
acquisition,  who  lacks  common  sense,  and  who,  in  other 
respects,  gives  evidence  of  the  absence  of  those  qualities 
which  enable  a  man  to  use  his  knowledge  for  the  benefit  of 
his  country  and  his  fellow-man,  we  shall  advise  him  to  give  up 
books  and  betake  himself  to  other  walks  of  life.  A  man 
without  common  sense,  without  tact,  as  a  mechanic  or 
agriculturist  or  trader,  can  do  far  less  harm  to  the  public 
than  the  man  without  common  sense  who  has  had  the 
opportunity  of  becoming  and  has  the  reputation  of  being  a 
scholar. 

I  trust  that  arrangements  will  be  made  by  which  the  girls  of 
our  country  may  be  admitted  to  share  in  the  advantages  of 
this  College.  I  cannot  see  why  our  sisters  should  not  receive 
exactly  the  same  general  culture  as  we  do.  I  think  that  the 
progress  of  the  country  will  be  more  rapid  and  permanent 
when  the  girls  receive  the  same  general  training  as  the  boys; 
and  our  women,  besides  being  able  to  appreciate  the  intellect¬ 
ual  labors  of  their  husbands  and  brothers  will  be  able  also  to 
share  in  the  pleasures  of  intellectual  pursuits.  We  need  not 
fear  that  they  will  be  less  graceful,  less  natural,  or 
less  womanly ;  but  we  may  be  sure  that  they  will 
make  wiser  mothers,  more  appreciative  wives,  and 
more  affectionate  sisters.  And  here  it  affords  me 
pleasure  to  extend,  on  behalf  of  the  few  educators  in  Liberia, 
and  of  the  public  generally,  a  hearty  welcome  to  a  lady  just 
from  America,  the  daughter  of  a  distinguished  leader  of  the 
race,  who  has  come  to  assist  in  the  great  work  of  female 
education,  and  who  honors  us  with  her  presence  on  this 
occasion,  l 


l  Mrs.  Mary  Garnet  Barboza. 


28 


In  the  religious  work  of  the  College  the  Bible  will  be  our 
text-book,  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment, — especially  as 
we  propose  to  study  the  original  language  in  which  the  New 
Testament  was  written;  and  we  may  find  opportunity,  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  Arabic,  to  study  the  Old  Testament.  The 
teachings  of  Christianity  are  of  universal  application.  ‘ 1  Other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  which  is  laid.”  The 
great  truths  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  are  as  universally 
accepted  as  Euclid’s  axioms.  The  meaning  of  the  Good 
Samaritan  is  as  certain  as  that  of  the  forty-seventh  proposi¬ 
tion,  and  a  great  deal  plainer. 

Christianity  is  not  only  not  a  local  religion,  but  it  has 
adapted  itself  to  the  people  wherever  it  has  gone.  No  lan¬ 
guage  or  social  existence  has  been  any  barrier  to  it;  and  I 
have  often  thought  that  in  this  country  it  will  acquire  wider 
power,  deeper  influence,  and  become  instinct  with  a  higher 
vitality  than  anywhere  else.  When  we  look  at  the  treatment 
which  our  own  race  and  other  so-called  inferior  races  have 
received  from  Christian  nations,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  with 
the  amazing  dissimilitude  and  disproportion  between  the 
original  idea  of  Christianity,  as  expressed  by  Christ,  and  the 
practice  of  it  by  his  professed  followers. 

The  sword  of  the  conqueror  and  the  cries  of  the  conquered 
have  attended  or  preceded  the  introduction  of  this  faith  wher¬ 
ever  carried  by  Europeans,  and  some  of  the  most  enlightened 
minds  have  sanctioned  the  subjugation  of  weaker  races — the 
triumph  of  Might  over  Right — that  the  empire  of  civilization 
might  be  extended;  but  these  facts  do  not  affect  the  essential 
principles  of  the  religion.  We  must  gather  its  doctrines  not 
from  the  examples  of  some  of  its  adherents  but  from  the 
sacred  records. 

“But  even  as  exemplified  in  human  action,  notwithstanding  the 
drawbacks  to  which  I  have  referred,  “it  has  so  manifested  its 
superiority,’’  says  Dr.  Peabody,  “in  beneficent  action,  to  all  the 
other  working  forces  of  the  world  combined,  that  the  experimental 
evidence  for  it  under  this  head  is  oppressive  and  unmanageable 
from  its  multiplicity  and  fulness.  .  .  .  It  is  in  the  exclusively 

Christian  elements  that  the  great  workers  of  the  last  eighteen 


29 


centuries  have  been  of  one  mind  and  heart.  No  matter  what  their 
sphere  of  labor,  wherever  we  see  preeminent  ability  and  success  in  a 
life-work  worth  performing,  we  find  but  the  reproduction  of  the 
specifically  Christian  elements  of  St.  Paul’s  energy, — a  spirit  pro¬ 
foundly  moved  in  grateful  sympathy  with  a  loving,  suffering  Re¬ 
deemer,  a  strong  emotional  recognition  of  human  brotherhood,  and  a 
merging  of  self  in  the  sense  of  a  mission  and  a  charge  from  God. 

.  If  you  were  to  take  away  Christian  work  and  workers 
from  the  world,  and  destroy  the  vestiges  of  what  has  been  wrought 
in  Christ’s  name,  I  doubt  whether  those  who  now  reject  or  despise 
the  Gospel  would  think  the  world  any  longer  worth  living  in.”  1 

Now  this  is  the  influence  which  is  to  work  the  great  reforma¬ 
tion  in  this  land  for  which  we  hope.  This  is  the  influence 
which  is  to  leaven  this  whole  country  and  to  become  the 
principle  of  the  new  civilization  which  we  believe  is  to  be 
developed  on  this  continent.  It  has  already  produced 
important  changes  notwithstanding  its  slow  and  irregular 
growth,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  scantiness  and  meagre¬ 
ness  of  its  visible  fruits ;  and  it  shall  be  the  aim  of  this  College 
to  work  in  the  spirit  of  the  great  Master  who  was  manifested 
as  an  example  of  self-sacrifice  to  the  highest  truth  and  the 
[highest  good, — that  spirit  which  exclude'd  none  from  his 
converse,  which  kept  company  with  publicans  and  sinners 
that  he  might  benefit  them,  which  went  anywhere  and  every¬ 
where  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lgst.  We  will  study 
to  cultivate  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report.  If  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any 
praise,  we  will  endeavor  to  think  on  these  things. 

Our  fathers  have  borne  testimony  to  the  surrounding 
heathen  of  the  value  and  superiority  of  Christianity.  They 
endeavored  to  accomplish  what  they  saw  ought  to  be 
accomplished ;  and,  according  to  the  light  within  them,  fought 
against  wrong  and  asserted  the  right.  Let  us  not  dwell  too 

l  Christianity  and  Science,  by  Andrew  P.  Peabody,  D.  D.,  LL..D. 
New  York,  1875. 


30 


much  on  the  mistakes  of  the  past.  Let  us  be  thankful  for 
what  of  good  has  been  done,  and  let  us  do  better  if  we  can. 
We,  like  our  predecessors,  are  only  frail  and  imperfect  beings, 
feelers  after  truth.  Others,  let  us  hope,  will  come  by  and  by 
and  do  better  than  we, — efface  our  errors  and  correct  our 
mistakes,  see  truths  clearly  which  we  now  see  but  dimly,  and 
truths  dimly  which  we  do  not  see  at  all.  The  true  ideal,  the 
proper  work  of  the  race,  will  grow  brighter  and  more  distinct 
as  we  advance  in  culture. 

Nor  can  we  be  assisted  in  our  work  by  looking  back  and 
denouncing  the  deeds  of  the  oppressors  of  our  fathers,  by 
perpetuating  race  antagonism.  It  is  natural  perhaps  that  we 
should  feel  at  times  indignation  in  view  of  past  injustice,  but 
continually  dwelling  upon  it  will  not  help  us.  It  is  neither 
edifying  nor  dignified  to  be  forever  declaiming  about  the 
wrongs  of  the  race.  Lord  Beaconsfield  once  said  in  the  House 
of  Commons  that  Irish  members  were  too  much  in  the  habit  of 
clanking  their  chains  on  rising  to  speak.  Such  a  habit,  when 
it  ceases  to  excite  pity,  begets  contempt  and  ridicule.  What 
we  need  is  wider  and  deeper  culture,  more  intimate  inter¬ 
course  with  our  interior  brethren,  more  energetic  advance  to 
the  healthy  regions. 

As  those  who  have  suffered  affliction  in  a  foreign  land,  we 
have  no  antecedents  from  which  to  gather  inspiration. 

All  our  traditions  and  experiences  are  connected  with  a 
foreign  race.  We  have  no  poetry  or  philosophy  but  that  of 
our  taskmasters.  The  songs  that  live  in  our  ears  and  are 
often  on  our  lips  are  the  songs  which  we  heard  sung  by  those 
who  shouted  while  we  groaned  and  lamented.  They  sang  of 
their  history,  which  was  the  history  of  our  degradation.  They 
recited  their  triumphs,  which  contained  the  record  of  our 
humiliation.  To  our  great  misfortune  we  learned  their 
prejudices  and  their  passions,  and  thought  we  had  their  aspi¬ 
rations  and  their  power.  Now  if  we  are  to  make  an  inde¬ 
pendent  nation — a  strong  nation — we  must  listen  to  the 
songs  of  our  unsophisticated  brethren  as  they  sing  of  their 
history,  as  they  tell  of  their  traditions,  of  the  wonderful  and 
mysterious  events  of  their  tribal  or  national  life,  of  the 


31 


achievements  of  what  we  call  their  superstitions;  we  must 
lend  a  ready  ear  to  the  ditties  of  the  Kroomen  who  pull  our 
boats,  of  the  Pesseh  and  Golah  men,  who  till  our  farms;  we 
must  read  the  compositions,  rude  as  we  may  think  them,  of  the 
Mandingoes  and  the  Veys.  We  shall  in  this  way  get  back 
the  strength  of  the  race,  like  the  giant  of  the  ancients  who 
always  gained  strength,  for  the  conflict  with  Hercules,  when¬ 
ever  he  touched  his  Mother  Earth. 

And  this  is  why  we  want  the  College  away  from  the  sea¬ 
board — with  its  constant  intercourse  with  foreign  manners 
and  low  foreign  ideas — that  we  may  have  free  and  uninter¬ 
rupted  intercourse  with  the  intelligent  among  the  tribes  of  the 
interior ;  that  the  students,  even  from  the  books  to  which  they 
will  be  allowed  access,  may  conveniently  flee  to  the  forests  and 
fields  of  Manding  and  the  Niger,  and  mingle  with  our  brethren 
and  gather  fresh  inspiration  and  fresh  and  living  ideas. 

It  is  the  complaint  of  the  intelligent  Negro  in  America  that 
the  white  people  pay  no  attention  to  his  suggestions  or  his 
writings ;  but  this  is  only  because  he  has  nothing  new  to  say, — 
nothing  that  they  have  not  said  before  him,  and  that  they  can¬ 
not  say  better  than  he  can.  Let  us  depend  upon  it  that  the 
emotions  and  thoughts  which  are  natural  to  us  command  the 
curiosity  and  respect  of  others  far  more  than  the  showy 
display  of  any  mere  acquisitions  which  we  have  derived  from 
them,  and  which  they  know  depend  more  upon  our  memory 
than  upon  any  real  capacity.  What  we  must  follow  is  all  that 
concerns  our  individual  growth.  Let  us  do  our  own  work  and 
we  shall  be  strong  and  respectable;  try  to  do  the  work  of 
others  and  we  shall  be  weak  and  contemptible.  There  is 
magnetism  in  original  action,  in  self-trust,  which  others  can¬ 
not  resist.  I  think  we  mistake  the  meaning  of  the  lines  of 
the  poet  which  are  so  often  quoted, — 

“Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 

And  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  om  the  sands  of  time.” 

How  shall  we  make  our  “lives  sublime”?  Not  by  imitating 
others,  but  by  doing  well  our  own  part  as  they  did  theirs. 


32 


We  are  to  study  the  ‘ ‘ footprints ’ ’  that  when  we  are  “forlorn” 
or  have  been  “shipwrecked”  we  may  “take  heart  again”; 
not  to  put  our  own  feet  in  the  impression  previously  made, 
for  by  so  doing  we  should  be  compelled  at  times  to  lengthen 
and  at  times  to  shorten  our  pace,  sometimes  to  make  the 
strides  of  Hiawatha,  and  sometimes  to  crawl,  —  and 
thus  not  only  cut  a  most  ungainly  figure,  but  accomplish 
nothing  either  for  ourselves  or  the  world. 

“Whilst  I  read  the  poets,”  says  Emerson,  “I  think  that  nothing 
new  can  be  said  about  morning  and  evening;  but  when  I  see  the  day 
break,  I  am  not  reminded  of  these  Homeric  or  Shakespearian  or 
Miltonic  or  Chaucerian  pictures.  INo;  but  I  am  cheered  by  the 
moist,  warm,  glittering,  budding,  melodious  hour,  that  takes  down 
the  narrow  walls  of  my  soul,  and  extends  its  life  and  pulsation  to 
the  very  horizon.  That  is  morning, — to  cease  for  a  bright  hour  to 
be  a  prisoner  of  the  sickly  body,  and  to  become  as  large  as  nature.” 

We  have  a  great  work  before  us,  a  work  unique  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  which  others  who  appreciate  its  vastness 
and  importance  envy  us  the  privilege  of  doing.  The  world  is 
looking  at  this  Republic  to  see  whether  “order  and  law, 
religion  and  morality,  the  rights  of  conscience,  the  rights  of 
persons  and  the  rights  of  property,”  may  all  be  secured  and 
preserved  by  a  government  administered  entirely  by  Negroes. 

Let  us  show  ourselves  equal  to  the  task. 

The  time  is  past  when  we  can  be  content  with  putting  forth 
elaborate  arguments  to  prove  our  equality  with  foreign  races. 
Those  who  doubt  our  capacity  are  more  likely  to  be  con¬ 
vinced  of  their  error  by  the  exhibition,  on  our  part,  of  those 
qualities  of  energy  and  enterprise  which  will  enable  us  to 
occupy  the  extensive  field  before  us  for  our  own  advantage 
and  the  advantage  of  humanity, — for  the  purposes  of  civiliza¬ 
tion,  of  science,  of  good  government,  and  of  progress 
generally, — than  by  any  mere  abstract  argument  about  the 
equality  of  races. 

The  suspicions  disparaging  to  us  will  be  dissipated  only  by 
the  exhibition  of  the  indisputable  realities  of  a  lofty  manhood 
as  they  may  be  illustrated  in  successful  efforts  to  build  up  a 
nation,  to  wrest  from  nature  her  secrets,  to  lead  the  van  of 
progress  in  this  country,  and  to  regenerate  a  continent. 


